Nail



J. H. POP-E.

NAIL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- H, 1918.

Patented June 20, 1922.

w Wyn 717k AM /;%f M v ill ii "if Q th ir JOSEPH H. POPE, 0F HAMILTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF. PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

NAIL.

Application filed January 11, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH H. Porn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hamilton, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Nails, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to nails, being illustrated in connection with a nail designed particularly for use in nailing the heels of boots and shoes and of a kind which may be inserted in the body of the heel of a boot or shoe with its head end projecting outwardly from the surface of the heel and constructed to penetrate the toplift when it is applied to the heel so as to retain the toplift in place on the heel.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel nail which will fulfill the practical requirements of a heel-nail in all particulars. To this end, the invention, in one of its aspects, resides in grooving the side of the nail, which is made of tapering form from one end to the other so that it can easily be driven into the heel and so that its head end is adapted to penetrate a toplift when it is spanked on the heel adjacent .to the head end of the nail to insure holding the toplift securely in place on the heel.

The invention, in another aspect, resides in forming the point of the nail soas to be clinched more easily and without any liability of the breaking away of the point from the body of the nail.

The herein disclosed method of making nails, by which nails such as those of the present invention may conveniently and satisfactorily be made, is not claimed in the present application since it forms the subject-matter of my co-pending application having Serial No. 414,268, filed the second day of October, 1920. It is recognized that the nail of this application may be made by other methods than that herein described and claimed in the aforesaid co-pending application and that certain of the novel features of the nail may be embodied in nails of different form from that herein illustrated and described. For this reason the nail herein disclosed is intended to be taken simply as an exemplification of the inven- Specification of Letters I atent.

Patented June 20, 1922.

Serial No. 211,349.

tion the scope of which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Other objects and features of the invention Wlll appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawings, F 1g. 1 is a view looking toward the side of the nail in which the grooves are formed; Fig.2 is a view of the nail taken at right angles to the view shown in Fig. 1;

F 3 is a view in perspective of the nail; Fig. 4 illustrates the nail blank from which the nails are cut;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the nail blank along the line 55 of Fig. 4; h

Fig. 6 illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which the grooves may be formed in She nail plate and the nails out therefrom; an

Fig. 7 shows diagrammatically rolls of the kind employed for forming the grooves in the plate.

The improved nail designated A in Figs. 1 and 2 is formed with two parallel grooves 1 extending across each of two opposite sides of the nail adjacent to the point end of the nail and with two grooves 2 extending across each of the same sides of the nail adjacent to the head end ofthe nail. The nail is of tapering form, and its other opposite sides designated 3 and 4 (Fig. 1) which, as shown, are not grooved, converge gradually from the head end of the nail to the point end. The grooved sides 5 and 60f the nail (Fig. 2) do not converge but bear a substantially parallel relation to each other throughout the entire length of the nail.

The nail is substantially square in cross section at its head end. The converging sides 3 and 4 are therefore closer together at the point end of the nail than are the grooved sides 5 and 6, by reason of which,

the resistance to the bending of. the nail on the side 3 or 4 is less than must be overcome inbending the nail on the side5 or 6. Consequently, the nail when driven will be clinched along the side 3 or 4. The grooves 1 adjacent to thepoint of the nail cause the point of the nail to clinch more easily, but preferably are relatively shallow, notbeing extended farenough into the side 3 or 4 of the nail to weaken the nail at the grooves sufficiently to cause the nail to be clinched on either of the grooved sides of the nail. When a nail is clinched on a sidein which a single relatively deep groove is formed, i. e., in the groove, the point of the nail is not bent below the groove but is turned about the groove as a center at a sharp angle to the body of the nail. When the nail point is thus clinched, a crack is likely to be formed between the point and the body of the nail and the connection between the point and the body of the nail is apt to be so weakened that the point will be broken away from the nail either in the clinching operation or subsequently by wear of the work in which it is driven. By providing thegrooves in a side or sides of the nail other than that on which the point is clinched, I avoid any tendency of the point of the nail to crack away from the body of the nail in clinching, and by forming a plurality of grooves in the side of the nail, I insure a gradual deflection of the point of the nail as it is clinched.

If only one groove were formed in each side of the nail, the point of the nail in clinching would be bent more abruptly in the line defined by the bottoms of the grooves than at other points.

Although it is preferred to form the nail as described with a plurality of grooves extending across each of two opposite sides of the nail adjacent to the point of the nail and not deep enough to change the normal tendency of the nail to clinch along other of its sides, important advantages of the invention may be obtained by the provision of a single groove adjacent to the point end of the nail on aside of the nail other than that on which the nail is clinched, and such a con struction is embraced Within the scope of the invention.

The head end of the-nail is formed to peneheel and the grooves 2 are formed closely adjacent to the head end of the nail so as to be engaged in the toplift. The nail is preferably formed of relatively soft metal so that when the toplift is forced down on it, the edges 7 below the grooves 2 are spread out somewhat into the material of the toplift so as to hold it more securely.

The sides of the main body portion of the nail are preferably made smooth and unbroken by grooves, by reason of which the nails may be driven into the heel stock easily and with little injury thereto. 1

In making the nails, I may first form a knail'blank B preferably of substantially uniform thickness from one edge tothe other. I then, as illustrated, form two parallel grooves 9 and 11 adjacent to each edge of the blank and in each of the opposite sides of the blank. The grooves may be formed by any suitable means, such, for instance, as the rolls 8 (Fig. 6) having annular corrugations 10 adjacent to one of their ends and corrugations 12adjacent to their other ends. After the grooves are rolled. in the it is desirable that the grooves of the nails bear such relation to each other in order not to weaken substantially the point or head end of the nail.

The nails are preferably cut from the plate along substantially straight lines from one edge of the blank to the other. The line of cut is spacedfrom the end of the blank at one edge of the blank by a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the blank, and at the other edge of the blank by a distance less than the thickness of the blank. The nail is thus made larger at one end, hereinafter designated the head end, than at the other end, hereinafter designated the point end. The making of the nail blank of uniform thickness throughout without enlargement at its edges and the cutting of the nails from the blank along straight lines from one edge of the blank to the other causes the head end of the nail to be of a form adapted to penetrate a top lift and hold it in place on a heel. The severance of the point end of the nail at a less distance from the edge of the blank than the thickness of the blank causes the nail to clinch when driven on a side other than that in which the grooves are formed. trate a toplift when it 1s spanked on to the By reference to Fig. 4, in which the broken lines represent lines of cut, it will be seen that the point ends of the nails as also, of course, the head ends of the nails, are for-med alternately from each edge of the blank. The nails are severed alternately at each edge of the blank at a distance from the end of the blank less than the thickness of the blank and at a greater distance from the end of the blank atone edge than at the other to form each nail with a head end and a point end.

Instead of the grooves being formed in the nail blank by means of rolls, as hereinbefore set forth, such grooves may be formed in'the part of the nail blank from which a nail is formed in the operation of cutting 'the next preceding nail from the blank, for example, by means of indenting members 16 carried by the cutter 1st, as shown in Fig. 6.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

i 1. A nail having a smooth unbroken shank portion to prevent injury to the work into which it is driven and formed with a plurality of relatively shallow gro ve Extending across a side of the nail adjacent to its point end to effect a gradual deflection of the point of the nail as it is clinched.

2. A heel nail tapering from its head end to its point end constructed at its head end to have a toplift spanked thereon and at its point end to be clinched in the work and formed with a plurality of grooves extending across its side adjacent to its head end to hold the toplift securely and having the surfaces of the main portion of the shank of the nail smooth and unbroken.

3. A heel nail tapering from its head end to its point end constructed at its head end to have a toplift spanked thereon and at its point end to be clinched in the work and having the main portion of its shank smooth and unbroken, but formed with a plurality of grooves extending across its side adjacent to its head end to cause the toplift to be held securely and with a plurality of grooves extending across its side adjacent to its point end to facilitate the clinching of the nail. I

4:. A nail having a shank portion presenting smooth, unbroken plane surfaces so as not to injure the work into which it is driven and being formed to offer less resistance to the clinching of the point of the nail on one of its sides than on other of its sides, and being grooved on one of its other sides adjacent to the point end of the nail to facilitate the clinching of the point of the nail.

5. A nail formed at its point end of less dimension between two opposite sides of the nail than between other opposite sides so as to be clinched on either of such first-mentioned sides, and being grooved on one of its other sides adjacent to the point end of the nail and at right angles to the axis of the nail. I

6. A nail formed substantially square in" cross section at its head end and having opposite sides of the nail converging toward its point end and the other sides of the nail arranged substantially parallel from the head end of the nail to the point end so as to clinch on either of such converging sides, and being grooved on one of the other sides of thenail to facilitate the clinching of the point of the nail.

7 A nail having a shank portion formed with smooth, unbroken surfaces so as not to injure the work into which it is driven and being formed of less dimension at its point end between two opposite sides of the nail than between the other sides so as to clinch on either of such first-mentioned sides,v and having a plurality of grooves in each of the other sides of the nail to facilitate the clinching of the point of the nail.

8. Anail substantially rectangular in cross section from one end to the other and formed with a pair of sides smooth and uniformly converging from one end to the other and with a second pair of sides formed with grooves therein.

9. A nail substantially rectangular in cross section from one end to the other and formed with a pair of sides smooth and uniformly converging from one end to the other and with a second pair of sides formed with grooves adjacent to an end of the nail.

10. A nail substantially rectangular in cross section from one end to the other and formed with a pair of sides smooth and uniformly converging from one end to the other and with a second pair of sides formed with grooves adjacent to both ends of the nail.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOSEPH H. POPE. 

